The UN warned this Thursday that world economic growth remains «moderate and unequal», although it improved its forecasts for both 2025, to 2.8% (four tenths above its May forecast), and for 2026, to 2.7% (two tenths more), despite «trade, fiscal and geopolitical risks». In its new report on economic prospects, the UN forecasts a 2.9% increase in GDP for 2027, but highlights that in recent years economic growth has been clearly below the average of the pre-pandemic period, which was 3.2% in the 2010-2019 decade. The UN points out that world economic growth in 2025 was based on the «stable» pace of large developed economies such as Europe, Japan, and the United States. However, according to the report, it is an «unequal» economic growth, given the unfavorable prospects for less developed countries, mostly African, which project a growth of 4.6% in 2026, a figure well below the 7% set in the Sustainable Development Goals. Global inequality is further aggravated by differences in access to technology, education, and financial resources, leaving the most vulnerable groups behind, according to the text. These forecasts, indicates the UN report, are framed within a context of geopolitical risks and greater fiscal pressures such as the increase in government debt in many regions, especially in Africa. In addition, the report emphasizes that world military spending reached a record 2.7 trillion dollars in 2024, with the largest annual increase since 1988, which «diverts critical resources from social investment and sustainable development». Trade also registered increases in the world economy, marked by tensions in the tariff policies of the United States. World trade grew by 3.8% in 2025, «artificially» boosted by the advance of shipments to avoid tariffs, so it is expected that in 2026 there will be a «deceleration» to 2.2% when tariffs are consolidated, the document states. Global inflation fell to 3.4% in 2025 and is projected to decrease to 3.1% in 2026, although the report's analysis suggests that the cost of living remains «high». The study also mentions a youth crisis, highlighting that 257 million young people (one in five) are neither studying nor working. Artificial intelligence, a key global factor. Global investments in artificial intelligence (AI) soared by 61.8% year-on-year, going from 93,000 million dollars in 2023 to exceeding 150,000 million in 2024. The United States accounted for 72% of spending on AI investments, while the European Union, China, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and India, ordered from highest to lowest, recorded around 21% of AI investments. The remaining 7% corresponds to the rest of the countries. The report warns that this concentration could widen the technological and productive gap between countries, generating economic and labor inequality at the global level.
